Let the Practical Tingle Your Imagination

She was told she couldn’t write, or more directly that she shouldn’t write. She was told that she would have nothing to contribute. In the end, she wrote sixty-six novels, 14 short stories, and the world’s longest-running play. The only book more read than Agatha Christie’s books and stories is the Bible. She is called “The Queen of Crime”, a moniker now trademarked by her estate. Oh, how our naysayers can be so perfectly wrong.

Agatha Christie invented more than one murder mystery plot line that keeps getting utilized today, in fact she wrote four. First, the narrator was the murderer. Second, she killed off everyone in the plot before the murderer was revealed. Third, the policeman investigating the crime was the murder. And finally, her master piece of genius was that everyone in the plot participated in committing the murder. No one had EVER imagined crime from those perspectives, no one. (And no, I am not going to tell those titles, I don’t want to ruin the plot!) For a woman who had naysayers, doubters and those who told her she could not contribute…I say well done!

I so love this quote from Agatha, about thinking while she did the dishes. It sounds so much like something she would say. She did the dishes – simply because she had to – so why not use that time productively? The mundane task brought her time to think, be alone, AND a way to process through all the ideas she had for her next manuscript. In this world of rush, rush, rush, she reminds us that time is what we make it. If we let it, the practical has the ability to tingle our imagination and help us keep things moving forward.

You know what I mean! The idea that comes to you in the shower that suddenly solves everything that kept you awake last night. The thought you have while driving home, or in a boring meeting, while vacuuming or even as you dust. The one you that makes you shout, “AHA!” and then you quickly go to write it down so you don’t forget it. (I hope you stop to write them down!) Those practical moments when our mind is free to think and our ideas are daring to flow without constraint. What a blessing our horse can be, not just to get done with a mundane task; it is time to ourselves when everything has the power to pull together and change our world.

So today, let Agatha Christie, the Queen of Crime, encourage you to never underestimate the power you can find when washing the dishes…or doing any mundane household chore. It is only a chore, a bother, a drain if you choose to let it be that. MAYBE that time is your chance to move your world one more step forward. Let the practical tingle your imagination and then be amazed at what you can accomplish.